Last fall we spent four days teaching SketchUp to a group of woodworkers from the Gwinnet Woodworkers Association in Atlanta, Georgia. The group was enthusiastic enough to establish a SketchUp special interest group within the club. They meet regularly, and here is an update I recently received:
I thought I would give you an update on what we have done with our new found Sketchup knowledge. Ricky and I have partnered on conducting a Special Interest Group centered around mentoring club members on Sketchup. We are both of the same belief that there is no better way to learn a subject than to try to teach it and field the questions that follow.
We held our first session just before Christmas at Rob’s man cave/wood shop. It was attended by 14 members.
Most of that 2 hour meeting centered around getting Sketchup installed, configured, creating profiles, and working through hardware/software issues.
Last Saturday, Ricky and I had a tag team meeting for the general membership where Ricky covered the use of Sketchup to layout a kitchen using the models available from Kraftmaid and the appliance manufacturers. We were stunned that 39 people attended that class.
Last night we held our second SIG meeting at Rob’s shop where we covered basic navigation and movement using your colored blocks. Again I was surprised by the attendance being 15 members.
This application has captured the interest of the woodworking community unlike any other computer application I’ve heard of.
One of the keys to success in SketchUp is practice, and I’m glad to see that this group has found a way keep the skills they learned in class and to spread the word of the value of SketchUp to other woodworkers. If you would like to host a class for your woodworking club or other group, send me an e-mail.
A SketchUp is a great experience for your members, and if you have a facility to hold the class, the cost can be significantly less than classes such as this usually cost. Most important, it’s a value that carries forward.